Trending News: Science Found The Key To Making Your Partner Want To Lose Weight

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Long Story Short

New research shows that your body image can be affected by the attractiveness of your partner. But there’s a twist.

Long Story

It’s no secret that in the modern world body image is shaped by a huge number of factors. And what has tended be a problem mainly faced by females has, in more recent years, started to affect men’s lives also.

But new research from Florida State University has found another factor that could be a driving force behind someone’s body image — the attractiveness of their romantic partner.

There’s just on catch: it’s an effect that differs sharply between men and women.

For the study, doctoral student Tania Reynolds and FSU Assistant Professor of Psychology Andrea Meltzer enlisted 113 newlywed couples married less than four months and aged in their late 20s. Each participant completed a questionnaire that explored his or her desire to diet or have a thin body. The participants were then photographed and rated for attractiveness on a scale of 1 to 10 by two teams of evaluators, both of which varied in sex and ethnic make-up.

The researchers found that women evaluated as less attractive were more motivated to diet and be thin if their husbands were attractive. The motivation did not exist in women judged more attractive than their husbands.

“The results reveal that having a physically attractive husband may have negative consequences for wives, especially if those wives are not particularly attractive,” Reynolds said in a news release.

That extra motivation also didn’t extend to men, who cared little about dieting regardless of their wive’s attractiveness or their own.

Reynolds reckons the study, published in the journal Body Image, offers insights into relationships and women’s potential fear that they’ll fall short of their partner’s expectations.

“The research suggests there might be social factors playing a role in women’s disordered eating,” he said. “It might be helpful to identify women at risk of developing more extreme weight-loss behaviours, which have been linked to other forms of psychological distress, such as depression, anxiety, substance abuse and dissatisfaction with life.”

The research actually builds upon previous research by Meltzer that found marriages tend to be more successful and satisfying when wives are more attractive than their husbands. Reynolds reckons an interesting next step would be to explore whether women are more motivated to diet when surrounded by attractive female friends.

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Ask The Big Question

What’s going on here? Why are men so immune to this effect?

Drop This Fact

According to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, 95% of people with eating disorders are between the ages of 12 and 25.